Support is grounds for a switch

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MELBOURNE Victory, surfing the wave of off-field and on-field
success, will look to shift matches from the 18,000-capacity
Olympic Park to Telstra Dome, which can handle 50,000, if it
qualifies for the inaugural A-League finals next February.

And the club, one of a handful of A-League franchises yet to
nail down a key sponsor, is poised to reveal a large Asian
electronics company  believed to be Korean conglomerate
Samsung  as its major backer this week.

Melbourne has exceeded its management's expectations with the
depth of support. In four home games it has twice put up house-full
signs hours before kick-off  last weekend before it destroyed
title favourite Sydney 5-0, and for its first home match against
Perth Glory early last month.

In between, it pulled nearly 14,000 for the visit of Newcastle,
and a highly impressive 11,000 on a Monday night  during
school term  when the league's least attractive opposition,
bottom side New Zealand Knights, came to town. That is an average
of more than 15,000 a match, well in advance of the 10,000-a-game
target set by Football Federation Australia at season's start.

It is optimistic it will attract another strong crowd for its
first Friday-night A-League fixture, on October 28 against
high-riding Adelaide, even though the Australia versus Ireland
international rules game is on at Telstra Dome.

The finals series is the property of FFA, and it would prefer to
maximise the financial potential of each game. Should Victory top
the table it would play the runner-up in a home-and-away tie, the
winner going straight through to the grand final, which it would
host.

If it lost it would still get a double chance, hosting the
winner of the third-versus-fourth tie in a preliminary final. So a
top-two finish would yield two home finals, while third or fourth
place would give it at least one home final.

Victory chairman Geoff Lord said officials were very pleased
with the crowds, and their behaviour and support. "If the grand
final was in Melbourne, Telstra Dome would be a good place to play
it," Lord said.

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1129401257115-theage.com.auhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/soccer/support-is-grounds-for-a-switch/2005/10/18/1129401257115.htmltheage.com.auThe Age2005-10-19Support is grounds for a switchMichael LynchSportSoccer